In the past few days some important dishes have gotten broken in my house.
NO, I am not throwing things around in a fit of anger.
It's more like general clumsiness--you know, like the way your kids are when they are growing, and they get awkward because their hands and elbows and knees and feet no longer fit the rest of them properly.
I was unloading the dishwasher, and stacking the plates back in the cabinet, and despite the fact that I know how to juggle, I dropped this really cute plastic plate that ALL my kids had used.
Melamine plates, contrary to popular belief, ARE breakable.
After a bit of comic relief a la Veggie Tales ("My plate! My Art Bogady limited edition collectors plate! What happened to it?"..."I did it...I BROKE THE PLATE") Big Daddy moved on to feeling sentimental over this plate, since all the kids had eaten from it as toddlers. Now, this plate has to be about 13 years old, and it's been in nearly continuous use, so it doesn't owe us ANYTHING, but still, it was a big thing to him, and he reminded me of it yesterday when I told him that Little Brother had broken my favorite travel mug (AKA the SFO Mom Sippy Cup).
That mug has been everywhere with me, for the past 2 years or so. I got it at Borders in the cafe: one of those $5 travel mugs that comes with a Free Coffee Beverage Of Your Choice and 10% off every coffee thereafter. I used it for my occasional Mommy Breaks at Borders, where I'd get a coffee and browse for an hour or so, usually coming home with books for the kids....but Little Brother knocked it off a table yesterday in the school lunchroom, and that was the end of that.
I'm using Big Daddy's coffee mug today and it's Just Not The Same. But I hadn't thrown out the SFO Mom Sippy Cup yet--couldn't bear to do it--and I did discover that fortunately the lid fits on Big Daddy's coffee mug. That will do the trick for a bit until I can get a new Sippy Cup.
I'm sure that if we weren't in the middle of a breakdown of Big Stuff (namely, parish and school), this Little Stuff wouldn't seem so big. But I know that it's hanging on to those little comforts and memories and traditions that is getting us through as we deal with the Big Stuff.
5 comments:
Your absolutely right about the little things bringing comfort in the times of the big stuff. I have a few little things that I rely on during those times too.
Hopefully you can get a new mug soon :)
It's tough when we break stuff that has had such meaning for us. When it happens, which seems especially likely at Christmas time when we decorate the trees, I have to remind myself (and the girls) that these are just Things. Things, while they are special to us, are just not as important as People, who are precious and irreplacable. Even though I wasn't pleased that I broke an old ornament of mine from childhood, it is a Thing. Making sure that my little People didn't step in the broken fragments in pajama feet was much more Important to me, and I tried to be sure I told them that (while I felt crummy for breaking that Special Thing).
God bless you. And maybe you'll get a new mug for Mommy's Day or your birthday. :)
You're absolutely right. And I will say that aside from the initial, "ARE YOU OK? YOU'RE NOT HURT, ARE YOU?" there was no shouting when the Sippy Cup got broken. Yet Little Brother feels bad about it--and I took him to the store today to help me find a new one. He looked forward to helping me pick. Unfortunately, there was not a coffee cup in sight. But we will find one, together, and it will be my special cup that he helps me pick.
I am there with you on this one...I can manage the "big" things that are monumentally challenging...but break something small that is MINE and full of good memories and it triggers the losses of my life in a nano second.It grabs your sentimental heart and catches you off guard leading to a melt down...Usually you don't see it coming.
Let's face it...you have had to shelf a lot of emotions to get through the crisis. Maybe a New Sippy cup will be the beginning of the great things to come...may it be filled with good things and great coffee!
agreement with Kathleen- it's also weird how sometimes one little thing can be the cathartic push for a new wave of change. Like when you for no apparent reason clean out your silverware drawer, and suddenly you find you're cleaning off top of the fridge, and under the sink and yadayada...the whole kitchen's clean. new school, new mug, new outlook on life...
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